NJ-based promoter Main Events won the purse bid for the IBF-mandated eliminator for the #1 position in the IBF’s light heavyweight ratings between #2-ranked Dmitry “The Hunter” Sukhotsky (21-2-0, 16 KOs) and #4-ranked Anatoliy “The Gladiator” Dudchenko (19-2-0, 13 KOs). The purse bid was held this morning at the IBF offices in Springfield, NJ. The winner of the fight will become the mandatory challenger for Bernard Hopkins’ IBF Light Heavyweight Title.
Main Events plans to add the elimination bout to the Friday, April 4th edition of NBCSN Fight Night featuring the USBA Heavyweight Championship battle between Steve Cunningham and Amir Mansour at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA.
Dudchenko, 35, is originally from Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine and now resides in Los Angeles, CA. He is currently the IBF Intercontinental Light Heavyweight Champion. This will be his first fight in the Northeast and his first since signing with Main Events. “The Gladiator” has won sixteen straight bouts in a row (seven by knockout) dating all the way back to May 16, 2008 with his first round TKO of Chris Eppley in Evansville, Indiana.
Sukhotsky, 32, of Barnaul, Russia will make his east coast debut on April 4th. He has only fought once in the United States, on July 14, 2012 in Las Vegas, NV where he lost to Cornelius White via unanimous decision. However, “The Hunter” has won his last three fights in a row – all by knockout – dating back to December 8, 2012 with his first round TKO over Volodymyr Borovskyy in Podolsk, Russia.
Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events, said, “Sukhotsky versus Dudchenko is going to be a war that deserves this kind of exposure in the United States. The winner will be in line to challenge Bernard Hopkins for the IBF Light Heavyweight Championship, so it’s great that fight fans will get to see this eliminator.”
